Month: April 2007

Just recently the European Commission was blaming Apple for a limited and convoluted process for obtaining digital music. In Europe there was different prices and restrictions that were placed upon the iTunes music store.
Well the European Commission has now come out and is now blaming the record labels. From an article on CNET, Commission spokesman said, “Our current view is that this is an arrangement which is imposed on Apple by the major record companies and we do not see a justification for it.”

This builds upon the letter that Steve Jobs posted on the Apple website in February and the agreement that Apple signed with EMI yesterday. Finally the record labels are getting their just rewards and it is time to stop blaming Apple.

Times are a changing and there will soon be more choice for consumers. With competition we will have better products and hopefully better prices. In can only benefit us as the consumer.

YEAH!

Apple and EMI announced that most of the EMI catalog will be available in iTunes by the end of the year.
The catalog will be available in iTunes at a slight premium ($1.29 vs $.99 per song). But with that you will get music at twice the quality and DRM free. I think that this is worth the extra cost.

Check out the Apple Press Release on the subject. You can also read about my earlier post on the rumor that was floating around last evening.

Thanks Apple and EMI. Hopefully this will open up soon for other labels.

Apple and EMI Group will be making a big announcement on Monday where EMI is going to sell the labels music DRM free on iTunes. EMI is also looking at other deals with other companies to do this with.
This is huge and will be a great step forward in progressing away from the old music models. Having DRM free music will allow music to be shared on a wide variety of devices and we won’t be stuck with on a device tied to a service we are buying it from.

Speculation is also flowing that there might be a deal for Beatles music. But according to a story by Reuters in the Washington Post, “Apple/EMI in deal, but Beatles not included-source“, the Beatles appear to not be in the picture.

In February, Steve Jobs issued a letter calling for music companies to get rid of DRM. One of the biggest points is that the sell their CDs without DRM and they sell a lot more of them then they do downloaded music. You can see my post here.

Knerdy Corner might start buying music at iTunes now if this goes through in his post Steve Jobs + EMI = ???.

This could begin the tidal wave to get rid of DRM. I can’t wait. Let the revolution begin. I bet the RIAA is starting to quake in their boots.

YouTube pulled a good one with letting some secret video out. Check it out!